 | Written by Derek Solomos Photography by Navneet Johal (C) 2023 All rights reserved by MetalMasterKingdom.com WACKEN METAL BATTLE CANADA (TORONTO ROUND 1) w/ AMMO, DEVIL WITCH, AXMINISTER, XEPHYR @ Hard Luck Bar Toronto, ON, Canada January 28, 2023 GUEST JUDGES Craig Rose (Bonecrusher / Hard Luck Bar) Chris Snow (Music Producer) Andrew Craig (Zombietrol Productions) Andy Hawke (Anthem Records) |
January 28th provided us with the triumphant return of Wacken Metal Battle Canada after a four year hiatus. The competition that determines who will go on to represent our country at Wacken Open Air, which is, to quote Sam Dunn, "the Mecca of Heavy Metal".
| The show kicked off with Alternative metallers, Xephyr (of whom I'm a former member). They brought the house down by kicking off their setlist with a new song called "Shot In The Head", before playing three more to close it out, as well as one old song. The band had fantastic stage presence, and terrific crowd interaction. They even got a nice pit going for the last song, which had a very thrashy vibe to it. Their biggest issue was that the mix proved to be quite a challenge. At times, the bass overpowered the guitars a little too much, and the vocals were a bit too quiet. All in all, they provided us with a great start to the show, and the crowd responded very well. Next up we had AxMinister, whom I'd never heard of before. They looked, and sounded very much like a black metal band, but their set really didn't do it for me. The mix was rather weak on all fronts, and there were very few (if any) moments that I found to be memorable. A rather disappointed crowd looked on just waiting patiently for the next band to come on. Third from last, we had Devil Witch, whom I thought should have advanced to round two. The crowd really got into them, and their mix was perfect. They were the only other band of the night to get a pit going, along with Xephyr. I feel like this band has a very bright future ahead of them, and this show proved it in a big way, but as the Rolling Stones once said: "You can't always get what you want." Last but not least, the winners of this round, Ammo. I remember seeing Ammo almost four years ago when they were the opening band on the Toronto date of the Warbringer and Enforcer co-headlining tour, so I was looking forward to seeing them again. However, I think they've regressed in a big way since then. Very strong mix for them (especially the kick drums), but I found their change of style to be as generic as generic gets. I felt as if they had too many metal cliches in their lyrics, and I wasn't exactly impressed. However, I am happy for them going onto the next round. They did have by far the strongest crowd reaction, and the only band who had an encore. All of us metalheads who picked up an instrument dream one day of playing Wacken. For them to take a step closer to doing so is a big accomplishment. Mad respect to them for doing so. | XEPHYR Photo credit: Navneet Johal / (C) 2023 MetalMasterKingdom.com AXMINISTER Photo credit: Navneet Johal / (C) 2023 MetalMasterKingdom.com |
All in all, it was amazing to see Wacken Metal Battle Canada return after such a long hiatus. I really look forward to the upcoming rounds, and I wish all the bands the best of luck.
| DEVIL WITCH Photo credit: Navneet Johal / (C) 2023 MetalMasterKingdom.com | AMMO Photo credit: Navneet Johal / (C) 2023 MetalMasterKingdom.com |
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